I'm back :)

I could not be more excited! I am going to start school this month!!! I actually did so well on my test that I tested out of all the basic English and Math classes AND I’m getting scholarship $$. I feel like a smarty J

Wow! I have not been on here in so long but I have a great excuse. First there was all the wedding planning, then the wedding itself which was absolutely amazing and went by WAY too fast. Our honeymoon was awesome. Jamaica is a beautiful place and I would LOVE to go back one day in the near future. We tried lots of delicious food while we were there, including conch which I think is one of my new favorite sea foods. It would be awesome if it was more available in KY so I could actually try and cook it. We tried Mussels which I’ve had before as a kid but I guess I wouldn’t expect any 5-year-old to like them. As a 26-year-old I loved them! We brought home some real Jamaican Jerk sauce and a couple of other sauces that I have yet to cook with. But as I’ve mentioned, I’ve been a busy girl!

And after the honeymoon Michael had knee surgery, I jumped right back into working both jobs and That would be why I’ve had no time for blogging.

So, last weekend I was actually off on a Saturday and I wanted to make a special little something for breakfast. Breakfast casserole it was! Michael and I both loved it and I will definitely add it to my recipe collection. It’s super easy and great if you have other stuff to do in the morning while it’s cooking.

Ingredients:

6 pieces center cut bacon (cooked)

5 eggs

1 tsp sour cream

A splash of milk

2/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar and some extra for the top

Salt & pepper to taste

1 pinch cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 300. Mix all of the ingredients together except the bacon and the extra cheese. Pour ½ of the mixture in a shallow greased baking dish (I used a medium sized corningware dish), put 3 pieces of bacon on top. Then pour the rest of the mixture over that, place bacon on top and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Cook for about 20-25 minutes until center is cooked through.

And voila! We had this with some bagel halves and it was SO good!

My goal is to try and start doing this recipe thing weekly. Hopefully I’ll be back on here next week J

Oh, and PS.

I am married to the most amazing man in the world and married life is AWESOME!!! I couldn’t be happier!

Comfort Food?

In my opinion, food is not for comfort. It’s not meant to make you feel better, listen to all your problems and tell you how to solve them, or turn that frown upside down. Food, other than to satisfy ones hunger, is a treat. And, just as with anything in life, in moderation, most foods can be good for you.  I have my evil urges and guilty pleasures but they are by no means “comforting” to me. They satisfy my hunger for that particular flavor and then I move on. Not the case this time.

A couple weeks ago I was supposed to go to a Bats game and all I wanted out of life was an Italian sausage with grilled peppers and onions. My friend cancelled on me and I didn’t end up going. I don’t even think I was upset about missing the game. However, I was disappointed that I wouldn’t get to have my treat. I got over it. But later that week, after decorating our patio for the summer, Michael and I decided to grill out. Finally! We got brats, peppers, onions, sourkraut, and hoagie buns and had ourselves one delicious meal on our patio. A Pinot Grigio for me, a Red Stripe for him and nothing could have been better.

The best way to make this delicious treat is to boil the brat in sourkraut and a couple of beers, with pepper, salt, and garlic powder and then finish it off on the grill. Sautee the peppers & onions in EVOO also with pepper, garlic powder, and salt and place everything on a toasted bun. And there you have some yummy ballpark food J

Another great thing that happened to me last week was my achieving a personal goal of mine. I finally, after all these years of talking about it, finished the mini marathon for the Derby! My time was alright and I couldn’t be more proud. Could a full marathon be next? We shall see…   

        Michael and me after my race <3

I'm IN!

Wow! I couldn’t be more excited! I got my acceptance letter yesterday to Sullivan and I am one giant step closer to being a college student and working toward my career. I feel like I’ve been thinking and talking about this for so long and it’s nice to set the wheels in motion. From this point on, only a couple of years before I get to do what I truly enjoy. Not too many people can say that they get to live out their passion at work every day but it won’t be long before I do!

Last night I made what is quite possibly Michael’s favorite meal. That just goes to show that he’s pretty easy to please. A great big pan of Texas Jambalaya and some delicious sweet cornbread is all it takes. You get the spicy and the sweet at the same time and while I didn’t actually make the cornbread from scratch, the jambalaya was all natural.

I try pretty hard to go in that direction as often as I can. As a future chef, I would like all of the food I make to eventually be all natural. No processed anything. I know it’s a lot more difficult than it sounds but it’s a goal of mine. I’m not a fan of putting chemicals and preservatives in my body. That’s not to say I don’t do it but I would like to lessen my intake.

Texas Jambalaya

1 tablespoon EVOO

1 green bell pepper diced

1 small white onion diced

About 3-4 celery stalks diced

3-4 cloves of garlic minced

¾ cup of diced ham

¾ cup of diced sausage (I used kielbasa b/c that’s all I had)

2 8oz cans of diced tomatoes w/green chili’s  

1 cup of long grain converted rice

I cup of chicken broth

1 bay leaf

Dry thyme to taste

Heat oil in large skillet, add onions, celery & peppers and heat through on medium heat until onions become translucent.

Add garlic and heat another minute. Then add all the meat and the rice and heat another 2-3 minutes stirring frequently to coat the rice in oil. Then add the tomatoes, chicken broth, bay leaf and thyme, bring to a boil, turn heat down & cover to let it simmer for 20-25 minutes or until rice is cooked through and there is no liquid remaining. Viola!

So filling and so Delish!

See ya next timeJ

Wine with that tasting?

Flowers

I got home to my amazing fiancé to find that he got me flowers. For no other reason than the fact that it was Thursday J Another plus to the flowers is that he actually got me ones that wont die. I got a Lilly plant for our patio. <3 him! I would really like to spend some time decorating our little outside area this spring. Maybe I’ll try to grow some herbs again. Attempt #1 was a failure but if you don’t succeed, try, try again!

Good food

We tried a new-to-us placed called Maxwell’s in J-town and while the atmosphere was confusing (seemingly trying to be upscale yet having 13” TVs at every table brought it back down to J’town standards) the food was good, the service was decent and I think we’re debating on having our rehearsal dinner there. Maybe. I would prefer a place where we can have a private room but at the same time we did like Maxwell’s.  

Decent wine – I guess.

One would think that going to a winery would suggest that there are several different wines that you could try there… one would be wrong. Michael and I had a Groupon date last night in which we used 3 (yes 3) of the Groupons that we had and one of them happened to be to River Bend Winery.  This included a tasting and 2 bottles of wine. Sounds great, except… they had ONE bottle of red wine. Yup. One. Not much of a tasting considering the majority of the wine was dessert wine.  And when asked why a winery would only have one type of red wine the manager replied that the wine maker they have is really lazy and just sucks! I guess it’s nice that he didn’t sugarcoat anything but at the same time, he probably shouldn’t be in charge of managing a business.

Amazing dessert

After our somewhat disappointing wine experience we went to Uptown Café for dessert. That was the perfect end to a great evening. We enjoyed one of the bottles of wine that we got previously and I had the most amazing dessert. The Empress Carlotta get’s my vote for a 2^nd time as my top 5 restaurant desserts.

Great company!

Love, love, LOVE spending time with my husband-to-be. We had great food and great conversation. I couldn’t have asked for a better mid-week date J

1st One!

Considering this is my very first blog I am completely not sure what to talk about but I’ll start with a little something about meJ

I try to cook every single day because food is what I love most in life (besides my fiancé and our puppy) but with my 9-5 it becomes very difficult to have the time to try new things. I’m also in the middle of planning a wedding which interferes with the cooking as well, but that I don’t mind so much.

I feel like every single day I’m learning a more and more that food is something very near and dear to my heart and I truly believe that I am going to have a fabulous career with it.

Michael and I have a little tradition on Wednesdays when we watch Top Chef. I make an amazing meal that I’ve never made before, we eat, and then we watch the show.

This week (yesterday) it was coconut curry lamb chops with a roasted red pepper sauce and some Thai vermicelli noodles and Asian cucumbers to go with it. It was am-a-zing. I kept trying to get a picture of it but my presentation wasn’t that great so no pic this time L

In the process of making this amazing meal I was truly afraid that it was going to be pretty gross. I had to marinade the chops over night in a coconut curry mixture that was less than appetizing and I was thinking that the flavors night not be that great. Much to my surprise they turned out perfect! Michael grilled (I’m still learning my way around the grill) them to perfection!  

I can’t wait for next week!

Speaking of next week… I will be applying to get into Sullivan’s Culinary program for the fall and I am PRAYING that I get in. This would really be a dream come true! Keeping my fingers crossed**